It would be interesting to see numbers on our industry. The White House Writers Group, of course, has provided considerable client services outside the United States, even outside this hemisphere. Ours is more of an export industry than ever, and we can expect it to become even more of one in the future. Just as technologies have made it possible to compete in communications services beyond one’s own shores, it will become an even more global market, as improvements in telecommunciations make it easier to communicate with clients and keep up-to-date on developments in international markets.

More and more, the most exportable products are ideas, and the ability to communicate them.

It may be that the competitive spirit one learns on in competitive sports translates into a significant advantage in business. Neither CEO gave up easily: Rosenfeld has turned Kraft into the world’s biggest confectionary company, replacing Mars. Stitzer managed to get for his shareholders a 50 percent increase over Kraft’s original offer last September.

This is not just a book about how Shenzhen is thriving. It is also about how Waltham, MA and Camden, S.C. are bouncing back. And it is about the fact that all communities will have to continually reinvent themselves to compete in the heightened, prolonged era of globalzation the author argues is coming. For anyone looking for a deep intellectual explanation of globalization, there might be more apporpriate books to recommend. But Sonic Boom is a valuable resource for anyone whose job includes explaining global economic change.

These are just a couple of small examples of the kind of idiomatic and cultural knowledge it is increasingly important to have, whether writing a speech, an article, a report or any other communications tool aimed at reaching a foreign audience.

A growing number of people around the world speak English. But at the same time they appreciate it when someone trying to communicate with them demonstrates a grasp of national and local idiom. Speechwriters, for example, are best-advised to eschew colloquialisms like ’shake on it’ if they are writing for an Asian audience, for whom the handshake is not a traditional symbol of agreement. There are a lot of linguistic traps out there, which is making speechwriting (and all other kinds of business writing) a more challenging field, demanding more globalized expertise.

The result: His company’s troubles with the commission continued for years.

Remember two things in dealing with Brussels.

First, the commission staff is made up of genuine experts in their fields.  If you talk to them knowledgeably and with clarity, they will listen and they will hear.

Second, treat the staff with respect.  Don’t sweep in like the king of the world.  Show some humility.  The staff knows you have your job to do.  Show that you know they have theirs.

Global trade negotiators would welcome any kind of spur to the Doha Round, which got underway eight years ago this month, and is mired in significant differences between developed and developing countries over a wide range of issues, and between U.S. and EU countries over agricultural subsidies. Other issues stalling a Doha agreement include intellectual property rights, non-tariff barriers, services, and trade remedies.

The Banana War got underway in 1993, stemming from an EU policy to grant preferential access to its markets to bananas from former British and French colonies in Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific region. The move prompted trade complaints from Latin American exporters. The Times reports that the EU will reduce its banana tariff by more than a third over seven years, dismantling much of the tariff advantage currently enjoyed by the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. In return, those countries would receive  190 million euros in new development aid to help them restructure.

But how much will such an agreement actually do to spur Doha? Will the Round gain momentum if key players are no longer sipping on banana peels? On the plus side, a banana deal would represent the second long-running trade dispute to be settled in six months, on the heels of a provisional deal last May between the EU and U.S. over European imports of hormone-treated U.S. beef.

On the other hand, global trade agreements have been becoming more and more difficult to close. More than anything else, the issues have become more complex and there are far more parties at the table. The first five trade rounds (from 1947 to 1960) were all about tariffs. At no time were there more than 40 countries involved. The next round, the Kennedy  Round, (which got undreway in 1964) was more complex. It addressed anti-dumping, and involved more than 60 countries. Not surprisingly, it took 37 months — more than the first five rounds combined.

The rounds grew bigger, more complex — and took longer. The Tokyo Round, launched in 1973,  saw over 100 countries negotiating over non-tariff barriers. It lasted more than six  years, longer than the Kennedy Round and the first five rounds combined.

By that point, trade negotiators had already picked all of the low-hanging fruit. The Uruguay Round, launched in 1986, began to address intellectual property, services, textiles, agriculture and dispute settlement, as well as overall tariff and non-tariff barriers — with more than 120 countries at the table. Not surprisingly, it took over seven years. The current Doha Round, with over 140 countries dealing with an even longer agenda of issues, has already surpassed that, with little hope of a completion on the horizon.

Will the Banana War prompt a Doha deal? Certainly WTO officials and trade negotiators will try to make as much out of a settleemnt as they can, hoping to build momentum to complete the toughest trade round ever — and keep in check a rising tide of protectionism that stemming from the global economic slowdown.

UPDATE:  It appears that we have Banana peace in our time. A deal was inked in Geneva a few days ago. But how much of a boost will that give to the Doha Round? I ran into a former Canadian trade minister the other day, who shared with me his pessimistic view that the Round was pretty much doomed from the start. In his view, the problem was that the only momentum it had at Doha and in the months leading up to the conference was the U.S. desire to promote global links in the face of the 9/11 attack, and there was never sufficient global agreement on a meaningful agenda. One of the best descriptions of the first few years of the Round, starting with the protester-plagued Seattle conference, is found in Paul Blustein’s Misadventures of the Most Favored Nations.